basilisk

basilisk - n - A (mythical) creature, variously described as serpent, lizard, or deagon, said to kill by its breath or look.

Shakespeare's characters often refer to the basilisk's fatal glance.

vade mecum

vade mecum - noun - a book for ready reference; a manual; a handbook; a useful thing that one regularly carries about

smocking

smocking - a decorative embroidery or shirring made by gathering cloth in regularly spaced round tucks

You guys are super lucky! I have chosen my theme for my words and it is...(dun, dun, dun)...SEWING! I'll try and have pictures for everything that I can. This first picture captures smocking pretty well I think. I hope that you can get the whole picture of what it is even though the picture is pretty close up.

pejorative

pejorative - adj - tending to make or become worse; tending to disparage or belittle

venial

venial - adj. - of a kind that can be remitted, forgiveable, pardonable; meriting no particular censure or notice, excusable

Maybe I need to find a theme with words that I can acutally write something about every day. I'll work on that. I'm boring myself!

wolfjb102070, how's commenting working out for you?

avaunt

avaunt - adv - [archaic] Away; hence.

For example, "Avaunt! Hie thee hence!" might be translated as, "Get out, and be quick about it!" This example also shows why translations of Shakespeare into modern English just don't work. As Robert Frost (1874-1963, shown at left) said, "Poetry is what gets lost in the translation." (Tangent: That's why I recommend E. V. Rieu's prose translation of Homer's Iliad, which may still be available as a Penguin Classics paperback.)

flying buttress

flying buttress - noun - a segmental arch transmitting an outward and downward thrust to a solid buttress that through it's inertia transforms the thrust into a vertical one; an arched masonry support serving to bear thrust, as from a roof or vault, away from a main structure to an outer pier or buttress.


These are the arches which look like ribs on the outside of a building. They are intended to provide extra stability to walls which have high vaulted ceilings or heavy roofs or cupolas on top which happen to cause the walls to drift outward. Remember, gravity works.

prostrate

prostrate - adj. - stretched out with face on the ground in adoration or submission, lying flat; completely overcome and lacking vitality, will, or power to rise; trailing on the ground, procumbent

...just singing Christmas carols this morning for some unknown reason (sigh).

silly

silly - adj - [Archaic] weak; helpless; rustic, plain; homely.

When one of Shakespeare's male characters calls a woman silly, he's not insulting her; in every instance I've seen so far, he's pointing out that she's helpless, incapable of defending herself should a man attack her. Some of his women describe themselves that way.

I'm currently reading Richard III, which strikes me as being the best of his early plays. It's the story of one of English history's most fabulous villains, the limping, hunchbacked Richard, Duke of Gloucester (pronounced Gloss-ter), who lies and murders his way to the English crown. It contains two of Shakespeare's most memorable lines, both spoken by Richard. In fact they're the first and last lines Richard speaks:

Now is the winter of our discontent
Made glorious summer by this sun of York. . .

A horse! A horse! My kingdom for a horse!

That second line is so familiar that it's been used by God-only-knows how many comedians: "A horse! A horse! My kingdom for a horse! I haven't had a winner in six months!" (Bada-boom!)

Richard is so inventive, so persuasive, and so enthusiastic in his villainy that you can't wait to see what he'll get away with next. Highly recommended.

surcease

surcease - noun - cessation; stop; end

sentient

sentient - adj. - responsive to or conscious of sense impressions; aware; finely sensitive in perception or feeling

wherefore

wherefore - adv - For what purpose or reason; why; therefore.

There was an old saying among Elizabetans, that "For every why there's a wherefore." Actually, it was probably more of a joke, along the lines of "Ask me no questions and I'll tell you no lies."
One of Shakespeare's most famous soloquies begins with Juliet asking, "O Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou, Romeo?" This is usually misinterpreted as Juliet asking where's Romeo. As a matter of fact, the correct reading is that she's asking why he's named Romeo, what difference would it make if he were named something else. The obvious "hidden" meaning, is that he's a Montague and she's a Capulet, and both families have a long-standing feud. She goes on to ask "What's in a name?" and observes that a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.

Romeo and Juliet was a huge popular success when first performed, and continues to be successful both as pastiche (West Side Story), faithful rendition on film (from Franco Zefirelli), and in a new setting, again on film (with Leonardo DiCaprio and Clare Danes in the title roles).

My own opinion is that Romeo and Juliet is minor Shakespeare, but easy enough to make a good starting poin for those new to his plays.

cupola

cupola - noun - a rounded vault resting on a usually circular base and forming a roof or a ceiling; a small structure built on top of a roof; a vertical cylindrical furnace for melting iron in the foundry that has tuyeres and tapping spouts near the bottom; a raised observation post in the roof of a railroad caboose.

Lots of definitions for this word. We tend to think of this structure as the dome on top of a building. Like the one recently added to our own state capital building. However, this is and interesting structure. The most common form for this structure was originally found on top of St Peter's Basilica in Rome. Domes are particulaly cool to look at, and a fun engineering problem. Well, not so much any more, but Leonardo Da Vinci had some issues with them. If I recall correctly, he was the architect who finished the work on St. Peter's after the original suddenly died. The cupola has one major problem with it - gravity. All that weight tends to push the supporting vaults outward causing the whole thing to fall flat. Try this as an example, cut an orange in half and take out the fruit. Leave the empty half orange on the top of the counter and press gently on the top of the orange. Without support under it, the top just caves in. With the other half, press similarly on it. Supported underneath the "top" of the dome, but the force has to go somewhere, so it goes out the sides (typically). It would be bad form to have the cupola come crashing down on the worshipers below, so the solution to the problem was to find a way to confine the supporting vaults. The answer is five very sturdy chains at various points inside the structure to reinforce the vaults and keep them from sliding outward as gravity takes affect on the whole structure.

irascible

irascible - adj. - marked by hot temper and easily provoked anger

It's funny that y'all were talking about using blogs as a response to reading as opposed to what we're doing because we're all defining words we find in our reading anyway.

Another wonderful word from J.K. Rowling.

excrement

excrement - n - [obsolete] Matter extruded from the body such as hair and nails.

Here's a Shakespearean word that can create problems for a modern reader. When Armado in Love's Labor's Lost talks about handling excrement, he's referring to his mustache.

clerestory

clerestory - noun - an outside wall of a room or building that rises above an adjoining roof and contains windows

Probably one of the more important pieces of architecture, thinking primarily of ancient churches, palaces, or other large governemnt buildings is the clerestory (the clear story). This is how a building of vast dimensions was light. Candles just couldn't handle the load. Imagine being in Notre Dame or the Malmesbury Abbey and trying to read your sermon notes, or, if you happened to be lucky enough to be in the orchestra, your music. Buildings without windows are dark buildings indeed and it takes a lot of candles to even raise the light level enough to be tolerable to ambulate sans tripping. Windows and daylight are a much better solution. Then the problem is: how to get light in without blinding the people. The answer: put the windows way up high so the light comes down to the floor of the building without distracting people with a nice view to the outdoors and not having the sunlight full in their eyes as they peer toward the altar.

ambulatory

ambulatory - adj. - moving from place to place, itinerant; able to walk about and not bedridden

It seems like this word would mean the opposite. Maybe I need to do some research and learn suffixes such as "ory." Perhaps if I knew the meaning of "ory" I would not think the definition as backwards. If only people would wisen up and ask me for my opinion before making such importance decisions then things would be so much simpler (and no, I'm not really that arrogant).

churl

churl - n - A rude, boorish, or surly person; a peasant, rustic.

This one shows up in Shakespeare (in the second sense), and it's a useful word to have in your vocabulary.

nave

nave - noun - the hub of a wheel; the main part of the interior of a church, especially the long narrow central hall in the cruciform church that rises higher than the aisles flanking it to form a celestory.

This is the central approach to the altar and is meant to inspire both a feeling of smallness (the ceilings are usually extremely high) and a sense of wonder at the same time. From the entrance of the nave, the altar is usually in plain sight. The nave was the place reserved for the commoners, which, in some way, explains the colloquial use of the word to describe a low-born or unsophisticated person, usually male and usually young (a boy).

gramercy

gramercy - interj - Used as an expression of surprise or strong emotion; Thanks (from French grand merci, "great thanks").

In every instance I've seen where Shakespeare uses the word, "Thanks" is meant.

The illustration shows part of Manhatten's pricy Gramercy Park neighborhood.